Gratitude spreads through my thoughts as I stare out onto the ocean and ponder the year gone by.  Of course, 2018 didn’t go as I thought it would, reminding me that having a purpose can be more useful than having a plan.  My purpose of sharing content is to give away all the good things I’ve been fortunate enough to collect.  This would not have happened without you blog readers and followers on our business social media platform.  I am grateful to so many who have inspired me, supported me, pushed me, put up with me, corrected me, encouraged me, taught me, challenged me, put up with me some more, and set an example for me.  One way or another, all of them made my work better and helped me grow as a person.  Thank you one and all.

I also thought about the authors that influenced me most this year.  Some books were read this year.  Others were read years ago and keep showing up in my presentations, blogs, teaching, mentoring, and day-to-day conversations.  They have shaped the way I do business.  So as a way to thank those influencers who I’ve crammed into my cranium and possibly give you a few ideas for books that might make a difference for you, I offer this year end blog.  It’s a long one, but I have a lot of people to thank (and value to give, hopefully)!

T-Rex’s Top Ten Influential Authors in 2018

Leaders-Strategies for Taking Charge by Warren Bennis & Burt Nanus  – This was hugely influential when I first started studying leadership in the mid-’80s. The lessons are insightful and the fundamentals are rock solid.  I also found his Organizing Genius, Geeks & Geezers, and Reinventing Leadership with Robert Townsend to be outstanding.  Dr. Bennis is missed, but his work lives on.  It’s woven into every board orientation/tune-up session we share with clients.

Little Golden Book of Yes! Attitude by Jeffrey Gitomer – It’s hokey (Gitomer says so himself), but it’s practical and very real.  I keep coming back to it when I need a checkup from the neck up.  A few years after studying this book, I did a co-presentation with Shannon Polly and became exposed to the discipline of positive psychology.  It turns out the hokey stuff has a clinical backup!

Start With Why, by Simon Sinek – I’d been frustrated for a long time with managers, management companies and board members who seemed determined to stay in the weeds and miss the point.  I was always encouraging folks to drill down and get to The Why.  I stumbled across a Sinek TED Talk. I bought the book and immediately began stealing from him.  His Leaders Eat Last is also very good.

Good to Great, by Jim Collins, including the monograph Good to Great and the Social Sectors– I find myself referring to “Level 5” leadership, the “hedgehog concept” and “pockets of greatness” with frequency.  Pockets of greatness will be woven into our work with community associations and management companies in building intentional culture in 2019.

The Speed of Trust by Steven M.R. Covey – I’ll always be indebted to John Byers of Townside Management for introducing this one to me.  The general concept plays out all the time in community associations: When trust is present, things go quickly and it’s less expensive.  When trust is absent, things take forever and it costs more. I referenced the book at one board consulting session and was tickled to hear that the management company bought copies for all the board members as a gift afterward.

Driven to Delight, by Joseph Michelli – This book helped me to refine how I looked at and taught customer service for community associations.  The story of how Mercedes Benz learned to morph from a product-centric to customer-centric mindset is fascinating and applicable to our work.  Helping managers, volunteer leaders, and all front line team members, to get out from under their perspective (typically their version of “product-centric”) and think and feel like the members hey serve has been a game-changer.

To Sell is Human, by Daniel Pink – Great research as always by this author.  All his work is very good, but this one is still my favorite. I’d known (from Zig Ziglar and others), that sales is essentially service when it’s done right.  But I still held negative connotations.   This book helped me to put the pieces together and get rid of some mental deadwood.  Leaders sell.  Salespeople lead.  It’s all just part of the human experience.

The Leadership Challenge, by Jim Kouzes & Barry Posner – I have no idea why it took me so long to discover Kouzes & Posner.  Model the way, inspire a shared vision, enable others to act, and encourage the heart.  Simple in concept, brilliant in application.  They are constantly fine-tuning their work based on one of the most impressive collections of data I’ve ever seen.

Who Do You Want Your Customer to Become?  by Michael Schrage – Seth Godin mentioned this ebook on a podcast, so I looked it up.  Great companies make change for a living. If Association Bridge ever stops making change, we’re quitting the business.

The Excellence Dividend  – Meeting the Tech Tide with Work That Wows and Jobs That Last, by Tom Peters – I saved the best for last.  Mr. Peters has been a major influence on my business thinking for a long time.  Along with Bennis’ Leaders, Peters’ 1982 In Search of Excellence created a foundation for my thinking on organizational dynamics and leadership.  The eight principles of In Search still hold up; a bias for action, close to the customer, autonomy & entrepreneurship, productivity through people, hands-on/value driven, stick to what the company knows best, simple form/lean staff, and simultaneous loose-tight properties.  The 2018 edition to his long list of titles (most of which still also hold up) goes back to the well on these core principles and applies them to the realities of today and tomorrow.  Dividend is packed with meaty content, the result of the author’s 30+ years of experience and incredibly voracious study habits.  He’s done the work and he’s clearly trying to give it all away. Even if all you did was use this book to compile a reading list by culling the 7 quadrazillion books he references and quotes from, it would be worth it.  I will be re-reading and studying this book well into 2019.

Plus One – A Special Place for Seth

I’ve enjoyed all of Seth Godin’s books.  Tribes  was particularly insightful in helping to see the context of humans, digital interactions, companies, and relationships.  What Does it Sound Like When You Change Your Mind is still about the coolest gift anyone ever gave me.

If all you have is a few minutes to chew on something, you might want to try reading his daily blog.  You have the time. Some of his blogs are two sentences.  But they’ll get you thinking.  I am also getting a lot out of his Akimbo podcast.

Honorable Mentions From the Past & Very Useful 2018 Reads

Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell – There is lots of debate about the validity of the 10,000 hours to mastery idea.  Whether that’s a magic number or not, who cares?  The principles of showing up and sticking with it work.

Grit – The Power of Passion and Perseverance, by Angela Duckworth – Recommended by both Tom Peters & Association Bridge’s own Chantu Chea.  A very balanced and thorough analysis…once again, the value of showing up.

Quiet – The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain – Also recommended by both Mr. Peters & Chantu, this was a real eye-opener.

Team of Teams by Stanley McChrystal  – Practical leadership models to deal with a lightning-fast, complex world, with some pretty insightful myth-busting to boot.

The Culture Engine by S. Chris Edmonds – Provides a useful framework to help organizations develop intentional culture.  This is going to be a big theme for us in 2019.

Known, by Mark W. Schaefer – I wrote about this one earlier this year.

The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal, by Jim Loehr & Tony Schwartz  –  Great insights.  I tweaked the Time Management Multi-Tasking & Other Myths program.

The Advantage, by Patrick Lencioni – Another one recommended by Mr.  Peters and also by my friend Jim Fisher. Good insights into organizational culture.

If You Made It This Far, You Are DA BOMB…Final Thoughts

Well, that’s it for 2018.  I hope the T-Rex Blog has given you some ideas, perhaps even a little inspiration.  Thank you for reading. Thank you even more for your input.  And thanks even more than that for passing forward any great ideas that you collect from any source to benefit others.

Final ponderings (thanks for indulging me…). This is just a business blog.  Though it’s easy to get things out of whack, please remember that business isn’t life, it’s just a part of it.  As such, the way we decide to do our business matters.  Be serious about how you do your business, but don’t take yourself too seriously.  Care enough to make a difference.  You can’t fix the world, but you can make a little difference in someone’s life every day.  Sharing love can take many forms.  Please share.  Take care of others.  Take care of yourself.  Remember who, and what, is most important, and do your business in a way that honors that.